First Mono synth in 35 years

[Godders 75]

Hi all
I hope i am posting this in the right area, around 1981 i purchased an Otave Kitten I wanted a Moog prodigy but they were difficult to get hold of at the time, after a few years i sold it and just contented my self with various modules from Korg which suited me being a home player, but now i would like to get back into thing,s I was never a real player or major twiddler but mainly found a waveform set the ADSR, Modulation, portamento and off i went, with that in mind i have been having a look around, reading reviews and tonnes of Youtube video's, and as per usual for me i have succesfully confused myself, do i? go for the Arturia Minibrute which is as close as i could get to my old Kitten and play safe, or go for the Moog Sub Phatty but all those hidden menu's worry me and the fact it is a true step up complexity compared to the Arturia, and the Moog is in a different league when it comes to build quality, I have even found myself looking at the Sub 37 which is way over my head..........i am seriously losing it.
thanks in advance for any assistance
Gaz

 

[happyrat1]

Sorry to confuse you even more but here's a couple more suggestions.

I own a Korg Minilogue and and a Roland JD-Xi.

The Minilogue is nice because it can do 4 voice polyphonic and a step sequencer and arpeggiator and the JD-Xi has a built in step sequencer and arpeggiators and is a hybrid with one Analogue voice and 3 PCM voices so it can do some pretty impressive orchestrations all by its lonesome.

Both of these are mini key synths but if your hands aren't too large I find them easy enough to adapt to and I usually use an 88 Key controller to control them when I really want to cut loose and fly with those synths.

Anyway, both are competitively priced compared with the Minibrute and offer way more bang for the buck in that price range.

Gary

 

[Godders 75]

Hi Happryrat1
Thanks for the reply and the links, I have had a little look at the Minilogue and thought it was a lot for the money, I should have mentioned the monologue as well, I have to admit I dont like the mini keys I also dont like the fact that a lot of mono synths are only 2 octaves and that must annoy many other people as well as me, someone did say that that is because those synths are mainly going to be used for Basses, so confusion reigns, but as you say a good controller keyboard should deal with most of those problems. I will give the JD-Xi a good viewing as well.
once again thanks
Gaz

 

[happyrat1]

You're very welcome.

Sometimes I hook my minilogue up to my drum machine or the JD-Xi sequencer and get some incredible harmonic undertones on my basslines.

Think of them as rack modules with mini keys thrown in for good measure.

Gary

 

[Fred Coulter]

Another approach (assuming you've got a keyboard with a traditional MIDI output) is to get the Behringer Model D clone. A MiniMoog rack mount for US$400.

Remember that a MiniMoog has no memory, though.

 

[happyrat1]

Is that thing actually shipping yet or isn't it still vaporware? Right now I think Uli Behringer is still fishing around for market opinion as to whether or not it's even worthwhile to produce commercially. As it is, so far, even the Deepmind 12 is still on backorder in most stores and the jury is still out on quality control on those units.

Gary

 

[Fred Coulter]

Is that thing actually shipping yet or isn't it still vaporware?

What's your definition of vaporware? I always thought of vaporware as a good idea that hasn't been built yet. Since there's a prototype, I wouldn't classify it as vaporware any more, but it sure as hell isn't shipping (or even on their web site).

I'd classify it as somewhere between vaporware and production.

If you want a mono synth NOW, this is not the way to go. (You could just bite the bullet and go Eurorack, starting with either the Moog Mother or the Lifeforms SV-1. Both of them around US$700, and both of them expandable with additional VCOs, VCFs, VCAs, etc., from a variety of manufacturers.)

 

[happyrat1]

Vapourware, as long as I've understood the concept, is the promise of a finished product in the near and foreseeable future with with or without a working or partially debugged prototype.

Truth be told, lots of great ideas never make it past the prototype stage when it comes to financing and setting up a viable supply chain all the way to the retail level.

By that standard, Behringer's Model D definitely qualifies as vaporware. It'll be a year or two at minimum, if ever, that those models actually see the light of day on the production line.

Especially when you consider that virtually every single major and minor player in the industry these days has released some sort of low cost analogue play into the current market.

I seriously wonder if the analogue craze will still be around two years from now?

Gary